Last summer I began to discern that it was time for me to move to a new ministry. This long process of prayer and reflection has led to me being appointed to a new role in the Diocese of London. Whilst I am excited and happy to be offered this new role, I am also sad to be leaving Bournville which has been our home for nearly eighteen years.

From September I will begin a new ministry as priest-in-charge of St Mary le Strand. This is a beautiful church which is right in the middle of The Strand with traffic flowing either side of it. The church has had some ups and downs and, at present, they have a Sunday service only once a month and one midweek service. However, that is all about to change as Westminster City Council are planning a scheme to pedestrianize that part of The Strand and for the church to become a focal point in the middle of a new public square. My role will be to oversee the restoration of the church building and build up the ministry there so that the church can take its place in the heart of the regenerated area.

My last Sunday in Bournville will be 19th July and, if restrictions are lifted, we will move at the end of July. I have no idea what will be possible in terms of public worship at that time, but I sincerely hope that we will find a good way to say a proper farewell. I will have to come back for a party if necessary!

When I first began to think of moving the timing seemed just right and to fit so well with the rest of my family’s work and education. Paula will continue in her role as Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral, Susie will continue at University and Ruth will go into sixth form for her A’Levels. Now, in the middle of this lockdown caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, I have to say that the timing feels far from ideal. Nevertheless, I do trust that this is still the right thing and it will all work out in the end.

I would just like to say a few words here about what will happen in the interregnum. When a church does not have a vicar in post then the responsibility for the parish rests with the Churchwardens under the guidance of the Area Dean and with support from the Archdeacon. At Bournville Parish Church we are extremely fortunate to have Revd Gail Rogers who will continue as Assistant Curate. Revd Gail is still in training and has one more year to serve of her curacy; through the coming year she will be supervised and supported by another local vicar. I am confident that Revd Gail will do a superb job of maintaining the worshipping life and pastoral ministry of the church in this coming year. However, she will need the support and help of everyone in the church, and whilst she will be taking a lead in many things it will be the Churchwardens and PCC who will be responsible for ‘running the church’.

I would like to thank you all for your support and friendship over many years. There is so much to be grateful for, we have loved being part of the Bournville community and it has been a great honour to serve as Vicar here. Please keep us in your prayers in this time of change and transition.

May I speak in the name of Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father.

Goodness is stronger than evil;

love is stronger than hate;

light is stronger than darkness;

life is stronger than death.

Victory is ours, victory is ours

through him who loved us.

Victory is ours, victory is ours

through him who loved us.

These words, by Desmond Tutu (former archbishop of Johannesburg) set to music by John Bell of the Iona Community, are what came to me as I have been praying and thinking in these last few weeks about what is at the heart of the meaning of Easter.

Easter is the celebration of Christ’s endless victory over sin and death: Jesus is the risen, conquering Son of God the Father. He is alive; risen from the dead and Easter is our victory celebration! Today we shout and sing: Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, Alleluia!(more…)

On 24th September 2017 my Dad, Gervase Babington, celebrated the 60th anniversary of his Ordination as a Deacon. There was a lovely celebration at their church in Lincoln, St Nicholas, at which I preached and Dad gave the final blessing. Thanks to all the people of St Nicholas church for making us welcome and for their love and care over the years. Below is the full text of my sermon.

Yes to God

May I be helped to speak in the name of the Living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

First, can I say a huge thank you to the Vicar, Hugh, for inviting me to preach this morning and indeed for encouraging this celebration to take place today. It is really wonderful for us all to be here for this celebration of a lifetime of ministry.

When Gervase, my Dad, moved after 16 years from being Rector of Waddington to become Vicar of Gainsborough, one of the congregation said to him, “I’ve timed all your sermons and you never preached for less than 7 minutes and never more than 12!” So, if you would like to set your timers now I will see if I can keep within that range. One of my dad’s maxims about preaching is that a sermon should be about two things: about God and about 10 minutes. Whilst this sermon will be about those two things, I would also like to stretch that rule today because this sermon will also be about my father and his ministry as a deacon and priest.

60 years ago this week, Gervase Babington was ordained as a deacon in Sheffield Cathedral by Bishop Leslie Hunter. It was a time of great change and challenge: under Bishop Leslie Hunter, Sheffield was a forward-thinking diocese engaging with industrial mission, encouraging lay ministry, and exploring new patterns of ordained ministry. It was also a time of great popular spiritual and theological questioning, exemplified by the controversial book Honest to God. (more…)

The gathering of people from across Europe this weekend in Birmingham is part of the Taizé Community’s pilgrimage of trust on earth – we are travelling together as people sharing in a journey of faith. We can learn at least four things from today’s gospel story to encourage and inspire us as we continue on this pilgrimage of trust.

First, Jesus, the risen Christ, is with us when we walk together.

Jesus is with us even when we do not recognize him. He is with us in the stranger who shares our journey.

He is with us when we are doubting, discouraged or in despair.

He is with us even when we are walking in completely the wrong direction, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, walking away from the amazing things that God was doing in Jerusalem…

Second, Jesus is with us when we open the scriptures together. It is wonderful when we experience that sense of God speaking to us in the words of the Bible and we, too, can say: ‘Did not our hearts burn within us as he spoke with on the road?’

We can learn about God from the living Word of God in the Bible. We learn best and we learn most when we learn from each other, when we interpret the story of our lives in the light of the story of salvation. Just as Jesus interpreted the experience of the disciples as he opened the scriptures to them.

Third, Jesus is with us in the breaking of bread.

Many Churches teach and many Christians believe in the real presence of Jesus in the bread and wine of communion. What we must remember about that teaching of the real presence is that Jesus is present in the whole action of the Eucharist. He is not just present in the bread and wine; he is present in our gathering, in our thanking, in our praising, in our sharing, in our responding, in our receiving. But it is not what we are doing that makes him present, his presence in the sacrament of communion is his gift of himself – it is the free gift of grace. He is with us because this is his table, he is the host, he is the one who invites us to come to him to receive. We are the Lord’s people, gathered around the Lord’s table, on the Lord’s day.

Fourth, Jesus is with us in our proclamation of his life and love. Just as those disciples on the Emmaus Road rushed back to Jerusalem to share the good news and to share their joy, so are we sent out each week to proclaim the gospel in word and deed. The service ends with the word ‘Go in the peace of Christ. Alleluia. Alleluia!’ Jesus is with us as we share our faith.

What little faith we have to share, it is enough; the little confidence we have to share it, it is enough. The gospel of Jesus is a call to joy and simplicity of life. The gift of the Taizé Community is that it shows us how we might do that. The little we have is enough. So let us remember that we, too, are sent out to experience the joy of sharing the story of our faith in Jesus.

Jesus, the risen Christ is with us:

With us when we walk together in friendship;

With us when we open the Bible together and listen and learn from each other;

He told beautiful but simple stories that touched the souls, warmed the hearts and sparked the imaginations of all who heard them.

He told his stories with wonderful words and a sharp wit. He told his stories with a look of love and a gentle touch. He told his stories with his actions so that sometimes it seemed as if his whole life were itself the truest kind of story.

His stories touched and transformed people. All sorts of people came to hear them. He called them to come to him, he invited them to come closer…

‘Come to me, all you that are weary, come and rest a while. Come to me and lay down your burdens, forget your worries, let go your sense of shame. Come to me and listen…’

And as he told his stories it was like his words created something out of nothing; it was as if he made the whole world new again. When he had finished speaking and people had finished drinking it all in, they went away refreshed. People left walking taller, feeling freer, and knowing that they were OK. Those who had come feeling left out or excluded, knew that they belonged. Those who came feeling guilty, left knowing they were forgiven. Those who were wronged, went home feeling put right with the world. And he did all with his words, and his gentle touch and a look of deep compassion.

But, as every storyteller knows, every story has a problem. And the problem was that not everybody liked the storyteller’s stories… not everybody liked the storyteller.

His stories of a world turned upside down didn’t appeal to those who lived on the upside of the world. They liked their place in the existing story. They didn’t like stories that undermined their power and position. They didn’t like their authority questioned. So they authored a new plot line, based on betrayal, denial, and false accusations. A plot that turned on violence and suffering and ended in death.

It turned the tale of the storyteller into a tragedy. The storyteller’s enemies brought their plot to fruition and wrote their alternative ending. And so it was that the storyteller died and there was nothing that those who loved his stories could do about it.

The End.

And yet, as in all the best stories, the storyteller’s story has an unexpected twist. You see, as you probably all know, stories have a life of their own!

Those who had lived alongside the storyteller and all who had listened to and loved his stories found that the stories lived in them. They found that they, too, could tell the stories; they, too, could bring a gentle touch and a look of love. The stories were so vivid and brought such vitality that sometimes it was beyond doubt that the storyteller was telling the stories in person – even if they did not recognize him at first.

It would be wrong to say that they all lived happily ever after… true stories don’t usually resolve that way. The storyteller being with them again was not a happy ending, it was a joyful beginning. The story teller being alive did not mean that his betrayal, suffering and death never happened. Rather, this was a whole new story being told within them and amongst them, it was the living words of the storyteller and his stories bringing a new creation into being. No longer once upon a time, in land far way, but now and here, his story lives and works in us; the storyteller’s words and touch and compassion are at work in us. For goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, light is stronger than darkness, life is stronger than death.

Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. (Matthew 24.42-44)

As I reflected on the gospel passage for this week I kept on finding myself singing the song ‘People Get Ready’. It has been a real ‘earworm’ and in the end I decided that the only thing to do was to sing the song and then offer some Advent reflections on it. Better than a recording of me singing it you can listen to the original version here.

People get ready, there’s a train a coming;
you don’t need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels humming;
don’t need no ticket, you just thank the Lord.

People get ready for the train to Jordan;
it’s picking up passengers from coast to coast
Faith is the key, open the doors and board ’em;
there’s hope for all among those loved the most.

There ain’t no room for the hopeless sinner;
who would hurt all mankind just to save his own
Have pity on those whose chances grow thinner;
for there’s no hiding place against the Kingdom’s throne.

So, people get ready, there’s a train a coming;
you don’t need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels humming;
don’t need no ticket, you just thank the Lord.
You don’t need no ticket, you just thank the Lord.

‘People Get Ready!’ – this is the Advent message, the Advent cry.

This song by Curtis Mayfield and covered by many artists was first a hit in 1965 and became very popular especially with the Civil Rights movement in America. The song has a strong gospel influence and the imagery of the train appears in several songs in this tradition and from the Spirituals. The Underground Railroad was not an actual train but the name given to a network of escape routes and safe houses for slaves in the 19th century. The stated destination of being bound for Jordan is a biblical reference to God’s people being led by Moses from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land. So, get ready for freedom, get ready for liberation, get ready for salvation! To get ready for a coming train (often in my experience) involves a lot of waiting and watching; this is not just an idle hanging around, but an expectant looking for something you know is going to come. This is a call to Advent hope!

To go on this journey to freedom all you need is faith: to catch the sound of the train’s engines, to open the train’s doors so you can climb on board – all you need is faith. We are saved by faith; not by our own believing but by God’s faithfulness – it is God’s steadfast love that keeps on calling to us and reaching out to us. Advent is a time to hear afresh the call of God’s love and his longing to bring us back to himself. Advent is a time to get ready to receive the gift of God’s love and forgiveness. It is not about what we do or what we have: we don’t need any baggage, we don’t need any ticket – we can ‘just get on board’ because our salvation is God’s gift to us. God’s grace, God’s gift of love, God’s forgiveness is for everyone – there is room for all among those who love the most. There is room for all who love and who want to be on board this train; that is important to remember as we come to the next verse…

Judgement is also a traditional Advent theme – one that often gets lost amongst the preparations for Christmas. Advent means coming and it is not just the celebration of Christ’s first coming to us when he was born at Bethlehem; this is also about the second coming at the end of all things. Then all the nations will be gathered before the judgement throne of Christ the King: the song warns us that there’s no hiding place against the kingdom’s throne. The warning is clear to the hopeless sinner; the person who would hurt the rest of humankind just to save themselves. There will come a time when we have to stand before God’s judgement and so the Advent call is to repent, to turn from our self-centred ways and become centred on God’s will. In this way, we believe that no sinner is truly hopeless before God, there is always hope because God judges us not only with infinite justice but with infinite mercy. There is pity – there is mercy – for us and for all who turn back to God. We may feel that our chances are indeed thin, and Jesus challenged his followers to enter by the narrow gate. But as the words of one of my favourite hymns say: there is a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea. We do not deserve it on our own merits but we are counted worthy by God because of all that Jesus has done for us.

So people get ready.It is Advent. Christ is coming.Wake up, watch, wait,Pay attention, look, listen…Keep faith, keep hope, keep on turning to God’s love and mercy…Get ready to get on board the train bound for God’s kingdom of freedom, justice, mercy and peace…And be thankful that it is coming and you are welcome to join the journey…You don’t need no ticket you just thank the Lord. Amen.

Today is 2nd February; it is 40 days since Christmas Day and today we celebrate Candlemas – the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. When Jesus was 40 days old, Mary and Joseph took him to the temple to present him to the Lord as a rite of purification.

There watching and waiting and guided by the Holy Spirit were two prophets Anna and Simeon. When they saw the 40 day old baby Jesus they praised God. Simeon said, “Now, master, you let your servant go in peace, my own eyes have the seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all people. A light to bring light to the nations and glory for your people Israel.” And Anna told everyone who was looking for God’s redemption that it was here and now.

Simeon and Anna see God’s salvation and redemption for the world in this 40 day old baby. Jesus had not done anything yet – just be born, feed, cry and everything else that babies do. He had not yet taught about the kingdom, healed anyone or performed any miracles, he had not been baptized or transfigured, he has not been betrayed, suffered or died on the cross, he had not yet been resurrected. These actions and events are where we would usually say that we see God’s saving love revealed, but Simeon sees God’s salvation in this tiny baby. God is present in Jesus, in his being, in who he is simply as a human person. In his person and being he is God present with us.

We catch our own glimpses of salvation in our lives. We don’t have a baby in front of us, but we do know the rest of the story. We have the words of the gospels, the grace of the sacraments and the fellowship of God’s people. How much more do we need? There is a line in a prayer I love: “Jesus, with you by my side enough has been given.” This Candlemas, let us give thanks for God’s light with us and within us as a light for the world. And may we know that in that little light enough has already been given. Amen.

I am delighted to say that long planned and eagerly awaited repair and redecoration work has started at St Francis Church this week.

The work includes repairing the crack above and below the rose window at the West end, repair of of the sanctuary floor at the East end, repair to the damaged render on the walls and redecoration throughout.

The whole work will last between six to eight weeks and should be completed well in time for Easter.